Warangal (Tamil Nadu) [India]: With a fortnight to go for the Telangana Assembly elections, the war of words is getting sharper between leaders of the political parties with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi coming down heavily on ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday held a roadshow in Warangal East of poll-bound Telangana and addressed the gathering.
Calling the BJP and BRS 'one power', the Congress leader said that both parties are sympathisers of each other.
"BJP and BRS are one power. One works in Delhi and the other in Telangana. They keep helping each other. I have seen with my own eyes in the Lok Sabha, how people of BRS work on one signal from the PM. Whenever the PM needed, BRS was there for him, be it- at the time of GST, farmer's rules, demonetization," Rahul said.
The Congress leader further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be 'visible' in Telangana as his party is dominating the state as the main opposition party.
BJP came to Telangana in arrogance but we let them down within 15 days. Congress punctured the tyres of PM Modi's vehicle in Telangana now he won't be visible in Telangana but from behind KCR is helping...he told BJP workers that here they should defeat Congress and make BRS win..." Rahul Gandhi said.
Further, hitting out at All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Rahul Gandhi accused the party of contesting the elections on the 'behest of the BJP'.
"Other than BJP and BRS, there is also a third party in between, AIMIM. Wherever Congress is fighting against the BJP, whether it is Rajasthan, Assam, Maharashtra or Gujarat, AIMIM is there to help the BJP. It has different rates for different states. They take money from the BJP and contest against the Congress," the Wayanad MP said.
He also said that his party's first goal is to oust Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao from power in the state.
"The other goal is to throw away Narendra Modi's government in 2024 from Delhi," he added.
The state seems to head for direct contest between BRS and Congress in the Assembly elections on November 30.
In the previous Assembly election in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, grabbing 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats.
However, Rahul Gandhi said that Congress would conduct the caste census soon after the party formed a government in the state.
"When Telangana was formed, we thought people of Dalit community, backward class, tribals will get chance to come into politics. We want to know how many people belong to the backward class, SC and ST community. If backwards are 50 per cent of this country's population, then there should be 50 per cent participation. We have taken a decision on Panchayati Raj; we are going to increase OBC reservation from 23 per cent to 42 per cent. As many as 24, 000 Panchayat-level leaders will come into Telangana politics. After the Congress government is elected to power in the state, our first step would be to hold a caste census in Telangana," he added.
He also alleged that the BJP and BRS work only for a few selected people.
"Parties like BJP and BRS work only to provide benefits to a selected few. Wherever we form the government, we clearly instruct our CM to give as much money to the poor as was given by these parties to the affluent. If they give Rs 1 to rich people, Congress to credit Rs 1 to the poor's account. We started this, this is just a start," the Congress leader said.
—ANI